More College Students Smoking Pot Daily, Study Reveals

A new study released by the University of Michigan reports that more U.S. college students are using marijuana.

The percentage of college students who reported daily marijuana use has increased heavily over the past decade. As part of the university’s “Monitoring the Future” study, surveys among the nation’s college students prove marijuana to be the substance of choice, surpassing tobacco for the first time in 2014. CEO of Muskingum Behavioral Health, Steve Carrel, said these findings are not surprising.

“The American Lung Association and the cancer folks have done a really good job telling folks about cigarette smoking and less people are smoking, and now we have more people in the younger ages smoking marijuana,” Carrel said.

The perception among teenagers and young adults is that pot is a safer alternative to tobacco, but Carrel said that just isn’t the case. Marijuana contains heavy amounts of THC, a chemical proven to cause brain abnormalities and other side-effects.

“With legalization, there is the perception that if something is legal then it must be safe, that is in no means close to accurate,” Carrel said. “With the higher concentrations of THC, we’re seeing an increased number of people developing some mental illnesses as a result, such as psychosis.”

Good news for concerned parents, though, as half of the students surveyed said they do not use any illicit drugs.